Our 3-Fold Focus
Our three-fold focus identical with the training focus of the Church of the Nazarene throughout the world. On 500+ districts the Nazarene movement trains new pastors with a focus on Academic Content, Spiritual Formation and Ministry Skills.
All three of these are a vital part of your preparation for ministry. We are committed to help you improve the spiritual use of your head, heart and hands. Another way we describe it is to KNOW (in your head), to BE (in your heart) and to DO (with your hands). This is our 3-fold focus; to KNOW, to BE, and to DO. We want to develop your academic content, what you KNOW, your spiritual formation, what you come to BE, and your ministry skills, what you are able to DO. Let’s look at each of these below.
The first focus we have is academic content. We believe God will use the academic content of the classes you take to increase your knowledge as you listen to lectures, watch videos, read books, participate in discussions, write papers and take exams. The apostle Paul reminds us in 1 Timothy 4:5, “Keep your head in all situations.” A regular prayer we hope you will learn to pray from Psalm 119:66 is, Lord, “Teach me knowledge and good judgment.” Our first focus is helping you master academic content, what we call…to KNOW.
The second focus we have is spiritual formation. This is the refinement of your heart, what we desire ministers to BE. Some refer to this at times as “devotions.” Other people refer to it as “growth in grace.” But spiritual formation is a process. In your ministry journey, we aim to intentionally cultivate your heart and fuel your passion to become a movement leader on one of our districts, leading or helping to lead a healthy Nazarene church. Our second focus is spiritual formation, the development of your heart…what God wants you as a minister…to BE.
The third focus we have is on ministry skills, developing your ministry hands. Your Board of Ministry has designed your education to also include ministry experience, because we not only want you to grow the knowledge in your head, and fuel the passion of your heart, we also want to introduce you to ministry skills that increase the ability of your hands. We want to help you more effectively “DO” ministry.
As a Nazarene movement, we follow Paul’s instruction in 1 Timothy 5:22, “Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands.” A minister’s journey toward ordination is VERY important to us and we have designed the entire journey with new ministers in mind. We want you to improve your skills, so you are able to DO better in ministry.
This is our prayer for you as we continue to develop the culture of every CoRe Network district to serve you better as a Christian leader. Our aim is to help you take the academic content of your head, mix it with the spiritual formation of your heart, and the ministry skills of your hands, so you follow the example of Israel’s greatest leader. This is how he is described in the Psalms. The Bible says, “And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them” (Psalm 78:72).
When your Board of Ministry graduates you from the Nazarene Course of Study, our prayer is that Psalm 78:72 is also a verse that describes you. You have wonderful days ahead in ministry! We are committed to serve you with excellence; if there is any way we can do that better, please let us know.